Dear Gabbey: How do I get a [cool/awesome] site like yours?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 10:24AM | 2 Comments This week's question comes to us from Cassie but is a question I get QUITE frequently from other short-term and long-term travelers out there. It also coincides with the launch of this new website as by launching this site, I got rid of all of the "over-the-counter" blogging tools I was previously using.
Blogging is a great tool to let people know where you are and 
by nesthostelsvalenciwhat you're up to when you're traveling. When I first started blogging, while backpacking Europe in 2007, my blog was the MAIN way that I kept in touch with my family and friends back home. At one point, I went an entire month without talking to anyone back home except for my blog and e-mail.
"But I'm not a blogger, and I'm DEFINITELY not as tech savvy (nor as irresistibly good-looking) as you, Abbey"
Well that's alright, humble readers. Because fortunately for you, there are a plethora of blogging tools out there just BEGGING for you to use them. Although I have custom built this site using my brain (90%) and a company called SquareSpace (10%), it was not an easy task and I do not recommend it for anyone who is not completely comfortable coding and building their own custom graphics. However, there is still a way to get a cool blog and not fork over $1000's of G's for a pimped out site (like my own). In addition to paying me to make a site for you, here is a breakdown of my three favorite FREE "over-the-counter" blogging tools for travel blogging.
WordPress.com
WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms out there, and it's easy to see why. WordPress is VERY easy to set up and very easy to work (I'll insert here, as long as you don't want TOO much out of it). WordPress also allows you to have instant access to a decent amount of built-in "themes" that can then be tweaked to fit your blog's own feel. The biggest two strengths I see with WordPress are the extensive "widget" or add-on library and the user community. WordPress is not going anywhere anytime soon. The content management part of this site will only get better with time and the extensive user community help to answer almost any question out there. In addition, because it's an open (and free) the user-developed add-on tools are fantastic, and really unrivaled. You can add maps, polls, graphs, quizzes, about me pages, and much more with just a bit of techy knowledge (like... how to drag something and drop it somewhere else). I realize not all of us were gifted with such technical ability (like my mother - Hi Mom), but fortunately, most of us were. Stephanie, over at Twenty-Something Travel has a good example of a simple WordPress blog. Also here's an article from Matador's Traveler's Notebook on the 20 Great WordPress Themes for Travel Bloggers.
Blogger.com
Blogger is, in my opinion, a more versatile platform than WordPress, but we all know that with more freedom, comes more ability to... well... eff things up. I ran my blog http://blog.abbeygail.com/ on the Blogger platform for almost 3 years and it suited me very well. Like WordPress, Blogger is free, easy to set up and easy to use (again... as long as you're not trying to do too much). Blogger also has an extensive library of free "themes" which can be customized using their built in content management tools. Blogger also gives you more flexibility if you do know how to tweak a bit of CSS stylesheets and backend html code. Like WordPress, Blogger also gives you the ability to add custom widgets and has a very large network of users to help with support and idea swapping. Because Blogger is a Google product, there is the potential for even more networking and development tools than WordPress and the Google Blogger dev team has a blog and a beta version of Blogger (that any one can use) that experiments with even more amounts of techy-ness. One of my favorite travel blogs using blogger can be found at A Travel Around the World. You can also check out my old travel blog which I hosted on Blogger.
I save Off Exploring for last because they are my hands-down favorite pick for blogging platform for most people. Off Exploring is SPECIFICALLY tailored to travelers. It allows you to organize your posts by where you are, add photos, a map and videos. It also allows you to create a "Travel Plan" and display that to your readers so they know where you're headed and where you've been. It's an easy platform, allows unlimited (small size) photo storage and as many blog posts as you like. I used this as the blogging platform for my 2007 European Backpacking Trip and it NEVER let me down. It's a simple enough site, so it uploads quickly (even when you're in those crappy hostel internet cafes on dialup) and it's just plain easy. PLUS (yes, there's a "plus"), at the end of your trip, when you return home, they will even print up your ENTIRE journey, including pictures, posts and maps into a hardback book that you can then keep in print on your lovely coffee table into eternity. Amazing. Go ahead and check out my Travel Blog from 2007/08 - The Adventure Called & I Followed on Off Exploring. They've quoted my approx 140 page book published at about US$60. Not too bad, if you ask me.
The most important thing is to blog frequently and to try and capture what it is about your trip that interests you the most. Do you want to know exactly what you ate for breakfast every day? Do you want to remember how you felt about that Italian boy you met down the street? Or would you rather just list out all the things you did see and show your pictures for you family to have proof that you're still alive?
What do you think; do you have any other great easy and free blogging platforms that you use? Feel free to link to your own blogs in the comments section so we can see what your site looks like.